CURCUMIN MALARIAN/BABESIOOSIN HOIDOSSA

[Bb]

Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 25.12.2004 12:07

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Volume 326, Issue 2 , 14 January 2005, Pages 472-474

Copyright © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Curcumin for malaria therapy

Raju C. Reddy Palakkodu G. Vatsala Venkateshwar G. Keshamouni Govindarajan Padmanaban and Pundi N. Rangarajan Corresponding Author Contact Information E-mail The Corresponding Author <mailto:pnrangarajan@hotmail.com>

Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0360, USA
Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India

Received 9 November 2004. Available online 20 November 2004.


Abstract

Malaria remains a major global health concern. New, inexpensive, and effective antimalarial agents are urgently needed. Here we show that curcumin, a polyphenolic organic molecule derived from turmeric, inhibits chloroquine-resistant /Plasmodium falciparum/ growth in culture in a dose dependent manner with an IC_50 of not, vert, similar5 μM. Additionally, oral administration of curcumin to mice infected with malaria parasite (/Plasmodium berghei/) reduces blood parasitemia by 80?90% and enhances their survival significantly. Thus, curcumin may represent a novel treatment for malarial infection.

*Keywords: *Curcumin; Malaria; Plasmodium; Artemisinin

Article Outline

Despite decades of intense research, malaria remains a deadly worldwide disease. Drug-resistance to limited available antimalarials, in part, has contributed to the persistence of this infectious disease. Likewise, the use of antimalarials such as artemisinin, though effective in global malaria control programs, is hampered by high cost and limited supply [1] Therefore, identification of an antimalarial drug that is easy to produce/isolate, is inexpensive, and demonstrates little toxicity across a diverse population represents the ideal agent needed for global malaria control programs and eradication of this deadly disease. Curcumin isolated from the roots of the /Curcuma longa/ plant has been shown to regulate a number of biological responses [2] In addition to its anti-tumorigenic, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects, curcumin has been shown to possess anti-microbial activity [2] and [3] In addition to inhibiting the growth of a variety of pathogens, curcumin has been shown to hinder /Leishmania/ [4] and /Trypanosoma/ [5] viability. With demonstrated antiprotozoal activity, we hypothesized that curcumin would similarly affect malarial /Plasmodium/ parasitic infection. This study was undertaken to determine the antimalarial effects of curcumin using well-standardized and characterized in vitro and in vivo systems.


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